If there's anything that can relieve the tension of a possible financial crisis in Bermuda it's a little bats' blood, skeleton bones or smelly salmon – at least according to Fourways Inn Restaurant.

The Paget eatery held its annual Halloween brunch last Sunday, a few days early.

Jessie Moniz, a reporter with The Royal Gazette, her husband and their 14-month daughter attended the brunch to get into the fall spirit.

"Over the top" were the words that best describe it.

The normally classy restaurant was decorated to the hilt. A corpse-like scarecrow greeted guests as they parked. Inside, there were skulls with glowing red eyes and scythes. Ghosts, spiders and singing bats hung from the ceiling, occasionally lowering themselves down to get a better look at what we were eating. The lights were turned down low and eerie smoke drifted over the "scary sushi" table.

Many of the staff costumes seemed appropriate for a sixteenth century eatery – tart waitresses and cloaked waiters with swords greeted customers.

But what would an old-fashioned saloon be without the Phantom of the Opera, Fred Flintstone, and Cat Woman? They added a little comic relief and whimsy.

Although all of the dishes had clever names, many of them were fairly routine brunch fare. There wasn't much 'wicked' about the potatoes, for example. The 'fish eyes' turned out to be little cod fish cakes. The skeleton bones were ribs in a barbeque sauce. But all of it was delicious, and up to the usual Fourways Inn standard. And who wants to eat real fish eyes, anyway?

There were lots of great touches, showing that a lot of thought went into the brunch. Cokes came with gummy worms instead of lemons, for example. And any place that brings candy with your drink is a great place indeed.

Hopefully, this is a fad that will catch on the rest of the year. A worm made of sugar is a worm for all seasons.

The reviewer had the sugar addicts' good fortune to be seated directly across from the dessert table.

The star of the dessert table was called 'Dracula's Casket Brownies'. It was a spooky graveyard tableau with chocolate brownies for tombstones. It was very creative.

Newsflash – marble headstones are out – dark chocolate is in, preferably 70 or 80 percent. And what a delicious way to spend eternity.

The dessert table was inhabited by spiders made from profiteroles, vampire hearts using gummy worms and a sea of various desserts using candycorns and lots of chocolate. The goodies were impressive enough that people were taking pictures of them instead of their children in costume. Maybe they wanted to reconstruct the treats later on for Halloween night?

It might be difficult to get them quite the same without the help of their original creators, pastry chef Garnish Suppiah and chef Tommy Poh. The two of them designed all of the desserts and all of the Halloween decorations.

The staff were great sports, despite normally catering to a loftier clientele. The entire staff stayed up decorating until 1 a.m. the night before, and then were back for a 7 a.m. start. The rings around their eyes only added to the ambiance.

"Sunday brunch at Fourways tends to be very popular," said catering manager Andreas Detzer. "And we do themes throughout the year such as Malaysian, Indian or Italian. But our holiday brunches tend to be a particularly big draw."

"The theme of Halloween could easily remind one of the stock market," said Mr. Detzer.

"But after a hellish week in the financial sector you can always find a calm and relaxing spot to talk about the past or forget it all together by indulging in great food and wine."

He said that many restaurants are worried that this year's Christmas lunch season – traditionally a big money maker – will be a bust, because many exempt companies are now tightening their belts.

"I think all of the restaurants in Bermuda are sharing our concerns," said Mr. Detzer.

He said to look out for strategically-priced incentives to get people to keep coming to the restaurant in the coming months.

Sadly, Fourways won't be doing another Halloween brunch this year, but they do have a special brunch at Christmas and at Easter.